


"Code Mauve"

by dragonsarmors



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: A fair amount of banter in Russian, Avengers Endgame fix-it, BAMF Wanda Maximoff, Bucky Natasha and Wanda all speak Russian, Everyone Is Alive, Field Trip, Flash Thompson Being A Jerk, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, IT DOESN'T HAPPEN, Iron dad and Spider son, IronDad and SpiderSon, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, Nightmares, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Protective Avengers, Protective Bucky Barnes, They also taught Peter Russian, Tony Stark Has Nightmares, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark has a Metal Arm, Translations provided, winteriron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 20:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20954519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonsarmors/pseuds/dragonsarmors
Summary: After the events of Endgame, Tony finally got his husband and son back, it was something worth losing an arm over. While he has healed physically, mentally he can't stop seeing himself dying. So FRIDAY, Bucky, and Peter have a system in place to help Tony through the darkness in his mind, the system is named "Code Mauve". It can be activated at any time, even during, say a field trip to Stark Tower by the Midtown Decathlon team.





	"Code Mauve"

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Marvel fanfiction! So of course kudos would mean the world to me, but also let me know what you think of the writing style.
> 
> Based on a Tumblr prompt posted by tonystarkismyprompt: Tony is having a panic attack. Luckily, Peter's class is having a field trip to Stark industries. FRIDAY notifies Peter and immediately breaks away from the group and to help his dad. 
> 
> I took a bit of a twist on the prompt to make it Winteriron (Tony/Bucky) and Peter is their son (biologically Tony's). Also this is Post-Endgame but everyone is alive, Tony lost his right arm and now has a metal one in its place. Far From Home doesn't happen and this is set during the school year when everyone gets blipped back.
> 
> It has fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, and a tad bit of crack (mostly in the form of random Russian banter.
> 
> Translations for smaller phrases (sentences will have the translation right next to them):
> 
> “маленький паук” - “little spider”  
“Мудак” - “Asshole/Motherfucker/Shitass”  
“милая моя” - “my dearest”

The clock was at 4:58pm on a Friday afternoon and Peter’s leg was bouncing wildly, ready for it to just be 5:00 already. Why? Because then Decathlon practice would be over and could just go home already because tonight is movie night and it his week to choose, Dad and Pops said so.

The bell rang and as Peter quickly packed his bag to leave, Mr. Harrington stopped everyone from leaving with an announcement.

“Everyone! Before you leave, I have some exciting news!”

The classroom filled with chatters and excited whispers.

“We have been invited to be the first group to tour Stark Tower since the Blip!”

Everyone started to cheer and talk about how cool this trip will be, well almost everyone.

“Ughhh” Peter groaned as he hid his head in his arms, hoping that if he ignored it then it wouldn’t be true, there was no way they were going on a tour of his home.

**••• **

You see, Peter is the son of Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes, when Peter was three years old his mom Mary left him with Tony after settling down with a guy who wanted nothing to do with Peter. So while he may go by Peter Parker at school, his real name is Peter Parker Stark-Barnes. Using his middle name as a cover so he won’t be hounded by paparazzi, like how Tony was when he was growing up.

**••• **

Peter was brought back to the current moment by an overexcited Ned tapping him on the shoulder, “Dude! Can you believe it?! Stark Tower chose us! Us!”

“Ned, I live there and you’ve been over enough times that you have your own security badge.”

“But still -“ Ned was cut off by a very snarky looking Flash

“There is no way you two losers have passes to Stark Tower, and even if you did they’re probably fake and you’ll get exposed for the liars you are when we get to the tower. And I’ll be honoured for exposing your lies.” Flash sneered and walked away before either of them could respond.

**••• **

Peter walked out of school and to the black Audi that Happy picked him up in with considerably less energy than he had 15 minutes ago. He said bye to Ned and hopped in the back.

“How was school today?” Happy asked.

“It was okay until the end of decathlon practice.”

“What happened? That Flash kid bothering you again? Because you know all your aunts and uncles would line up to keep him from hurting you.”

Peter chuckled a bit at that, it’s interesting to have the Avengers as his aunts and uncles and how quickly they would fight a kid for their favourite (and only) nephew.

“Not really, it’s the fact that next week the team is having a field trip to the tower.”

That made Happy nearly burst out laughing

“Only you kid, only you.”

“Thanks…” Peter says as he sinks into his seat for the remainder of the trip home.

**••• **

As soon as Happy pulls to a stop in the garage beneath the tower, Peter grabbed his backpack and sprinted right for the elevator, yelling back “Thanks for the ride Uncle Happy!”

As Peter entered the elevator FRIDAY greeted him brightly “Welcome home Peter. Common room or penthouse?”

“Common room Fri, thanks!”

“Of course.”

The elevator went up swiftly and opened on a scene that could only exist in Peter’s crazy life.

Clint, Scott, and Sam were all crammed onto the same couch playing Mario Kart, yelling at each other. Wanda was holding her coffee cup with her magic and talking to Natasha in what Peter believed to be either Russian or Sokovian, the two languages tended to overlap. Bruce was over at the table looking over some recent results from his experiments for a new project of his.

And over in the corner his dads were arm wrestling, except only using their metal arms, trying to see who had the stronger one. Which Peter saw as counterintuitive because Tony had made both of them.

**••• **

Tony had made Bucky’s arm shortly after they met. He realized almost immediately how clunky and short-sighted the design of the one he got from Hydra was. Sure it was enough for the job but beyond assassin duties it just wasn’t practical. It was made to be so strong that Bucky couldn’t even pick up a mug of coffee with shattering the mug in tiny bits. So Tony made him one that would still be good for combat missions but also allowed him to lead a life without crushing everything because of insane assassin strength.

Then Tony made his as he was recovering after doing the snap that dusted Thanos. He hadn’t been sure he was going to survive it, but because of the quick thinking and knowledge of Stephen and Shuri, he survived just without his right arm. The stones burned it beyond saving. So while in bed recovering from nearly dying, Tony designed himself a new arm on his StarkPad and had FRIDAY make all the pieces and Peter helped to put it together.

**••• **

Even though Tony had recovered physically and had grown accustomed to his new metal arm to the point where he could arm wrestle with his husband, mentally he was still a mess. He had nearly died and that is a hard thing to process, even though it had happened before, this one hit harder though because he was going to lose his husband and his son, both of who he just got back.

Tony hasn’t even left the tower since coming back he’s been so on edge, like if he loses focus he’ll find out this is his dying dream. This translates into a mess of things: random panic attacks (mostly without warning), insomnia where he would be up for nearly 5 days in a row, and nightmares where he sees himself dying from outside his body.

This where Code Mauve came into play. It was put into place after a day where Tony had a huge panic attack while Peter was at school and Bucky was away on a mission and none of the other occupants of the tower could calm him down. It finally took video calling Peter and letting him talk to his dad to get him to come back out of the world of his worst fears.

Code Mauve means if FRIDAY detects Tony having a nightmare or a panic attack (or both on the bad days), she will immediately notify Peter and Bucky if they are nearby, otherwise she will call them if they aren’t on a mission. Tony doesn’t like that they have to have a whole procedure for this, but it helps him feel safe.

**••• **

Peter ran up to his dads to say hi, getting to the table right as Bucky won.

“I might need to tone down the strength in that arm, that’s your third win in a row.”

“Maybe you just need to step up the strength in your own, dear.”

Tony looked ready to argue on how his arm was clearly superior, when he noticed Peter walking up to the table.

“Hey Underoos! How was school today.”

“It was okay. Just a completely normal day.”

“I call bullshit” Wanda said from the other side of the room.

“LANGUAGE!!!” Everyone else yelled, laughing immediately afterwards.

After the laughter turned into just a slight giggle Wanda explained her response, “He’s standing there rocking back and forth on his heels and tapping his fingers like crazy on his legs, he’s clearly hiding something.”

“No, I’m not hiding anything… I swear!” Peter replied nervously.

“So no news about a field trip to a certain tower next week?” Bucky asked slyly.

“How did you know about that, Pops?!” Peter said with his jaw dropped.

“Who do you think chose Midtown for the trip?”

“Honestly I thought either Dad or Ms. Potts did it.”

“We chose together,” Tony chimed in “we were looking through the trip applications and as soon as we saw Midtown Decathlon we knew that was the one we had to choose.”

“Why do you guys do this to me?”

“Because we annoy and embarrass you as a way to show you that we love you.”

“I love you too” Peter sighed, “just don’t go crazy in the amount of embarrassment,” He turned towards the rest of the room, “That goes for all of you as well.”

“I can’t make any promises, messing with tour groups is just so much fun,” Clint said, taking his attention away from the race for just long enough for Scott to pass him and get 1st place. “Aw no I almost had it.”

“Maybe we can finally knock some sense into that Flash kid,” Wanda said with her eyes sparking with magic for a split second.

“Wanda we can't harm a minor,” Natasha reminded her.

“Thank you Aunt Nat.” Peter said relieved.

“Just a second маленький паук, I wasn’t finished yet, we can’t harm a minor but we can at least rough him up a bit for messing with our favourite nephew.”

“Я люблю тебя мама паук (“I love you mom spider”), But please remember I still have to go to school with this kid after the trip.” Peter pleaded.

“We know, it’s out of love for you that we will make sure that Мудак doesn’t mess with you anymore.” Natasha said smiling.

“Nat, Language still counts even if it’s not in English.” Bucky said glaring at her.

“Я могу поклясться, когда захочу, старик. (“I can swear when I want, old man.”)” Natasha smirked.

“Let’s head up for movie night before Nat can teach you anymore foreign swears,” Tony said, walking towards the elevator that would take them up to their penthouse, “Say goodnight to your aunts and uncles, underoos.”

“Love you all, please don’t make any crazy plans to embarrass me that’s all I ask. Goodnight everyone.”

Peter and Bucky went over to join Tony at the penthouse elevator. Right before the doors closed Peter shouted to Nat, “Мама паук, пожалуйста, научи меня еще русским ругательствам! (“Mom spider, please teach me more Russian curses.”)”

Bucky glared at Natasha and then his son and sighed, “Я знал, что это плохая идея, чтобы научить вас русскому. (“I knew it was a bad idea to teach you Russian”)”

“I am so confused right now,” said Tony as the elevator began to go up.

Bucky patted him on the back, “one day I’ll get you to learn милая моя.”

**••• **

The trio made it up to their penthouse and headed straight for the kitchen to grab snacks for their weekly movie night.

Tony turned to Peter, “Alright kiddo, since it’s your turn to choose the movie, it means you also get to pick the snacks, so what’ll it be?”

“Hmmmm, well we definitely need to have popcorn, and then maybe fruit snacks, and ooh do we have any Cosmic Brownies, those are the best!”

“Let me go check the pantry, Tony do you want to get the popcorn started,” when he didn’t hear a response from his husband, Bucky turned around to see him just standing there, staring off into the distance, “Tony?”

Immediately Peter could hear his dad’s heart rate increase as he just stood there, “Dad, are you okay?”

Just as they were about to ask again to try to get his attention, FRIDAY spoke up, “Gentlemen, I believe he is currently experiencing a flashback, so I am activating a Code Mauve. Since you both are up here I am just locking down the penthouse elevator so you will not be bothered. I would suggest trying to lead him over to the couch and placing the weighted blanket around him, and then talk about anything except space.”

“Thank you Fri,” Bucky said softly, he hated seeing his husband like this, he wanted so much to take this pain away from him, but for now all they could do was do what FRIDAY told them to do.

Peter began to try to lead his dad over to the couch, but his legs just wouldn’t move, so he had no other option then picking him up and carrying his dad to the couch, Spider-strength made it not hard at all to lift him, but it was a bit harder to get over to the couch because he could not see where he was going.

After what Peter thought was forever and a half (it was only a minute), he got his dad on the sofa and grabbed the light blue weighted blanket and placed it around his shoulders. He began to talk to him about his day at school, deciding to skip going over questions about space at Decathlon practice.

Eventually Tony seemed to break out of his spell with a soft gasp. “Urgh,” he groaned, “how long was I gone that time?”

“30 minutes,” Bucky replied with a sad smile on his face.

“I’m sorry ab-“ Tony tries to say but Peter cut him off

“Dad, it’s not your fault, I’m sorry I didn’t even think about the name of the dessert.”

“Let’s just get the movie playing that’ll help me a bit.”

“So what are we watching today kiddo,” Bucky asked his son.

Originally Peter was going to say one of the Star Wars movies because those were his favourites, but after what had just happened, he decided that tonight they should stay away from space themed movies. “How about Dr. Horrible?” He loved singing the songs from that movie.

“Sounds perfect buddy, Fri you heard him, bring up Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.” Bucky smiled.

The three of them cuddled close together and started singing off key when “My Freeze Ray” started, but they were smiling and together and that was just the way it should be.

**••• 1 week later ••• **

It was Friday morning, the end of the week, Peter should be happy but honestly he didn’t want to get out of bed just so he could miss the field trip.

Just as he was thinking about trying to fake going back to sleep, there was a knock of his bedroom door, “Underoos! It’s breakfast time, you don’t want to be late for school and miss the trip, right? Don’t have made me do the fake signature for your permission slip for nothing!” Even though the door was closed, Peter could tell his dad was saying that with a smirk on his face.

“Fine, I’m coming, I’m coming.” Peter groaned as he got out of bed and headed over to the closet to get dressed.” Today was going to be absolute torture.

5 minutes later Peter was walking from his room wearing one of his many science pun t-shirts and jeans. He made it to the kitchen and sat down at the breakfast bar. When his dad turned around to serve him pancakes, he noticed very prominent bags under his dad’s eyes.

“Dad, how long has it been since you last slept?”

Tony’s smirk went away, “I don’t remember actually…”

At that moment Bucky walked in to grab breakfast and Peter saw he was in his combat uniform.

“Do you have a mission today, Pops?”

“Yeah, last minute one too, they located a small Hydra stronghold in rural Virginia and so myself, Natasha, Sam, and Steve are being sent out to handle it. I shouldn’t be gone more than a day or two. I’m sorry I’ll miss your field trip, bud.”

“Less people around means less people to embarrass me on my trip.” Peter said with relief.

“Well it just means the others will have to work overtime to make sure you get embarrassed on our behalf”

“Why me…” Peter said, about to put his head down when he remembered he had a plate of pancakes there.

As Peter began to eat, Bucky turned to his husband, “Tony, I know you don’t want to, but please try to get some sleep while I’m gone. You need it.”

“I’m not tired,” Tony tried to say, but was interrupted by a huge yawn.

“Sure you aren’t. I love you милая моя. Just please try, okay?”

“Fine.” Tony grumbled.

Bucky turned back to his son who was just finishing up his plate of pancakes, “Hey bud, it’s kinda cold out there why don’t you take your hoodie, and don’t forget your badge.”

“My hoodie says Stark Industries on it and I have a Platinum level badge, why would I make myself stand out like that.” Peter said all in one breath.

“One: breath kid, it’s not that big of a deal, Two: I actually think you’ll look like you are excited for the trip, remember your hoodie is the same as the ones in the gift shop, and Three: you know your Uncle Happy doesn’t allow badge reprints, you won’t be able to get in without your badge if you leave it in your room.”

“But FRIDAY knows me! She can let me in without my badge, right Fri?”

“Sorry Peter when it comes to tour groups everyone must enter with a badge.” FRIDAY replied.

“Okay, Fine.” Peter grumbled and then headed back to his room to grab his hoodie and badge before returning to give his Dad and Pops hugs before heading down to the garage to meet Happy, “I love you both! And dad please try to get some sleep.”

Before Tony could protest, the elevator doors closed and Peter was on his way.

Bucky gave his husband another big hug and a kiss, “I’ll be back as soon as I can, remember if you need anything Peter will be at the tower today, Okay?”

“Okay,” Tony said, picking at the hem of his shirt.

“I love you”

“I love you too.”

And with that, Bucky got on the elevator to take him to the floor where the Quinjet was parked.

Tony decided he wasn’t tired enough for sleep and with both Bucky and Peter out he could get a little more tinkering in before trying to face the challenge of sleeping.

**••• **

Happy pulled the Audi up to the school in an area that was just out of sight of the main doors. Peter made sure his badge was tucked inside his shirt, grabbed his backpack and moved to get out of the car. “Thanks for the ride, Uncle Happy!”

“No problem kiddo, just remember that badge needs to be visible when you get to the tower, I wouldn’t enjoy needed to kick you out for breaking tour rules.” Happy said with a sly smile.

“Today is not going to be my day…” Peter mumbled as he climbed out of the car and headed for the Decathlon room, where they were meeting before heading to the bus.

**••• **

When he got to the Decathlon room he sat next to a very excited Ned and MJ who was reading an obscure book like normal.

“I’m so excited for today,” Ned said as he was practically jumping up and down in his seat.

“I’m not, at least a good amount of my uncles, aunt Nat, and Pops are out on a mission so hopefully they won’t embarrass me too much.”

Just as Peter finished saying that, Flash walked up behind him, “Yo, Penis Parker, you ready for all of your lies to be exposed today. You’re even overworking to make people believe you, wearing a Stark hoodie thinking you can suck up to the man himself, and what’s this?” Flash spotted the lanyard around Peter’s neck and grabbed it and the badge before Peter could stop him, “What the fuck is this Penis, this doesn’t even look like a proper ID badge, Platinum level, that’s some seriously made up shit, you are so going to be caught today.”

Before Peter can respond, MJ retorts, “Eugene, there’s no way you know what a Stark Industries badge is supposed to look like, and besides, you're the only one people left who don’t believe Peter has an internship, so just shut it already, you’re interrupting my reading.”

Flash just throws Peter’s badge back on the table and walks off muttering multiple curse words under his breath.

“Today is going to be a long day.” Peter groaned.

**••• **

By the time they board the bus, Flash has stopped trying to yell at Peter, One: because Peter is next to MJ and she gives a mean glare if Flash even thinks about talking, and Two: Mr. Harrington got on his case after what he heard in the Decathlon room.

It’s a 40 minute drive to get to the tower, but to Peter the drive goes by much quicker than he would like. Time to face utter embarrassment in front of his classmates.

They walk inside the giant glass doors and into the fancy and futuristic looking lobby. Everyone is taken aback at how cool just the lobby is, even Peter is a bit impressed because he never comes in this way, always getting into the tower from the private elevator in the parking garage.

Mr. Harrington makes his way up to the front desk to talk to the receptionist, Peter recognizes her as Sarah, one of the sweetest people on SI’s staff, but also she takes no shit and can flip into protective mode almost instantly.

“I’m guessing you all are the Midtown Decathlon team tour?” Sarah asks before Mr. Harrington can even get to the desk.

“Yes, we are! I hope we’re not here too early...”

“You guys are right on time, I’ll just let your tour guides know that you have arrived, if your group just stays together over there, our head of security, Happy Hogan, will be over in a bit to give everyone their badges.”

“Thank you Miss.”

Mr. Harrington makes it back over to the group just as Happy shows up with the box of security badges, and two interns who will be the tour guides for today.

Happy stands in front of the group, “Attention Midtown Decathlon Team!”

Everyone turned to look towards Happy, except Peter who tried to hide behind Ned.

“My name is Happy Hogan and I am Stark Industries Head of Security! I’m going to need everyone to come up when I call your name and retrieve your security badge. These must be visibly worn at all times, if not, you may be asked to come back to wait in the lobby until the tour is over. These are one-time use White level badges, so after the tour is over you may keep your badges because they will no longer allow access to the tower. Understand?”

Everyone nodded in agreement. “Alright let’s start handing out badges! Abe Brown?...”

After the bin has been emptied the only people without White level badges were Ned, MJ, and Peter.

Flash blurted out without even raising his hand, “Mr. Hogan, Penis Parker and his nerd friends didn’t get their badges, does that mean they aren’t allowed on the tour?”

Happy glares in Flash’s direction, “I’m guessing you’re the one they call Flash even though it’s not your real name, right?”

Flash gulps, “uh… yeah. Why?”

“First of all, those three didn’t receive White level badges because they all have higher level badges and Stark Industries has a strict policy against badge reprints especially if the person already has a higher level badge and would be restricted from areas they have been cleared to be in. Second, I would strongly advise no longer referring to my nephew that way, it may not go over as smoothly as a talk like this with his other uncles and aunts.”

Even though Flash wanted to say that there was no way Penis had any family, with the way Happy was glaring at him he didn’t want to talk until he’s out of sight.

“Now that that has been handled, I would like to introduce the two interns who will be your tour guides today.”

The first intern steps forwards, they have blue hair and glasses and even walk with a blue cane. “Hello everyone! My name is Faith, I work in Stark Industries consumer goods department, helping to give all of our technology good sounding audio and working interfaces, especially making sure all of our technology is accessible to people with disabilities.”

As Faith stands back, the other intern steps forward, they have brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail. “Hi everyone! My name is Dez, I work in Stark Industries professional goods department. I help create products that can be used by doctors and therapists of every kind help their patients in the best way they can!”

Betty raises her hand, “So what are all the different levels of badges, because I see you both have different badges.”

Faith steps back up, “We have a color scale for our badges. White level, which is the only you all have is used for one-time guests like tour groups. Next is Gray level, used for guests that need to come multiple times like press and volunteers for clinical trials. Then Black level, which is used for various staff members, like janitors, cafeteria workers, and front desk. After that we enter the coloured levels for interns, we go by a rainbow system so the colours are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. Violet through Blue are for interns of the consumer goods department, like myself, the colour depends on how long you’ve been here, since I’ve interned through college and have been working on getting a permanent job here, I have a Blue level badge. Green through Orange are for the professional goods department, once again based on time you’ve been here.”

Dez jumps in, “since I'm on my third year here I have a Yellow level badge. Anyone with a coloured level badge can go to any colour level area, because sometimes the different departments need to work together, but we also like to meet each other.”

Faith continues, “The highest level in the coloured levels is the Red badges, these are given to department lab directors who watch over projects on the other colour levels, and they run the clinical trials for both consumer and professional department products.”

Abe raises his hand, “Do they Avengers live here, and if so what kind of badges do they have?”

Dez takes this one, “Yes, the Avengers do live here at the tower, at the very top where they can’t be disturbed by the day to day musings of Stark Industries. Those upper levels cannot be accessed from the elevators here in the lobby without the approval of FRIDAY, through a badge scan and facial recognition, the building and Mr. Stark’s personal AI. Say hello to everyone Fri!”

Everyone except Peter, Ned, and MJ are startled when the ceiling begins talking to them, “Hello Midtown Decathlon Team, I hope you have a great tour!”

Dez continues, “So there are two Avengers levels, Silver level is for those who don’t live at the tower full time, like Ant-Man, Hawkeye, and Thor. Silver is also for any visitors that come to the Avengers levels. And Gold level is for all the Avengers who live at the tower full time.”

After this explanation is given Flash blurts out again, “Is there any such thing as a Platinum level badge, because if not we have a fraud in our group! I told you you were faking it Pen- Peter!”

FRIDAY answers this question herself, “Platinum level is the highest badge level that exists in Stark Industries, only 3 of them exist. They belong to Tony Stark, Bucky Barnes, and Peter Parker. So I assure you Eugene, Peter is not a fraud, he has more power here than you could ever wish to have.”

After a few seconds of silence, Faith claps their hands together and says, “Let’s get the tour started, please walk through the scanners, placing personal items to the side.”

The kids walked through the scanner one by one and as they went through FRIDAY announced everyone’s name and badge level.

“Faith, Blue level”

“Dez, Yellow level”

“Eugene, White level”

“Ned, Silver level”

“MJ, Silver level”

“Peter, Platinum level. Welcome home Peter, your Pops says he hopes the tour goes well and he’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks Fri, let Pops know I miss him and that he stays safe on his mission.” Peter says, forgetting he is surrounded by his classmates until he looks back to follow the group on the tour. Everyone is looking at him with shocked expressions. He just stands there, hating himself for forgetting he was on a tour.

“Well, let’s head to the elevator and go to our first stop on the tour, the Stark Industries/Avengers museum!” Dez said. That took everyone’s attention off of what Peter has just said.

That didn’t mean the ride up to the museum wasn’t incredibly awkward though. It’s going to be a long day.

**••• **

Up in his personal workshop, Tony was still at work tinkering on some new piece of tech, well at least trying to do so. It was only 10:30am and he was falling asleep sitting up. He’d dropped the tools he was using so many times, DUM-E was pretty much at his side to hand it back to him.

In between grabbing the fallen tools DUM-E would lightly nudge Tony’s leg and beep sadly, his way of telling Tony to take a break and possibly sleep.

Finally after a cycle of 10 times dropping the screwdriver in a row, Tony was fed up with himself, “Ugh!”

DUM-E nudged at his leg a little harder this time and Tony looked down at him, “Okay, okay I’ll listen to you DUM-E, I guess Bucky was right, I do need to sleep…” Even if that thought terrifies him.

Tony’s plan was to go up to his and Bucky’s room where there are a few Code Mauve protections in place, like bedside walls that would pop up if Tony was about to toss and turn off the bed, many weighed blankets and other grounding items, and honestly their room was just familiar to him so he didn’t feel trapped in the dark world his brain created to torture him.

These plans changed when Tony stood up from the workbench a bit too quickly and instantly regretted it. Immediately he was lightheaded and there were spots in his vision, “Shit!” He yelled as he nearly face planted, DUM-E catching him at the last second.

“I would go upstairs but with what just happened, I think walking that far is out of the question. Thanks DUM-E for catching me.”

DUM-E whirred happily in agreement.

Tony went over to the couch he had in the workshop, it wasn’t elegant in any form of the word, there were oil and food stains on it and some of the cushions were beginning to sink. But hey, it got the job done.

He sat down on the couch and grabbed the small throw pillow and blanket that were sitting in a ball on the other side. Laying down and trying to find a relatively comfortable position took a bit longer than Tony would have liked but eventually found one that would do.

Putting the throw pillow under his head and draping the ragged blanket on him, he had FRIDAY switch off the lights and he was asleep almost instantly.

_And into the dark world of his dreams he went… _

**••• **

The elevator the tour group was in, opened up to a room with giant displays explaining Stark Industries history and showing some of the concepts of their most well known tech. But the majority of the room was filled with glass cases, each one housing a replica of one the Avengers suits, along with other related items and then a fun facts board.

The class almost collectively gasped and scattered in different directions to look at the cases for their favourite Avengers.

Peter was the last student to walk out of the elevator, followed by Faith and Dez. They walked towards the wall that had the Stark Industries timeline, “Sorry, I completely forgot that you had a Platinum level pass and didn’t even thinking about bringing it up until that one kid did,” Said Dez.

“It’s alright Dez, there are times I forget I have a Platinum badge as well. I’m just so used to FRIDAY letting me without it. And besides, Flash would have been a jerk to me either way,” Peter mumbled the last part.

“You know we still have to tell your dads about this, right?” Faith added.

“Don’t worry about it, they already know and both of them plus every one of my aunts and uncles have offered to kill him for me.”

“That’s concerning… in a good way I guess.” Dez said.

Faith turned to the rest of the room, “I forgot to mention, we will be here in the Stark Industries/Avengers museum until it is time to go to lunch, I will let you know when it’s time to leave, for now, feel free to look around the whole museum.”

“Thanks you two,” Peter said before running off to join Ned and MJ, where they were currently standing in front of his Dad’s case.

“Woah, your dad’s new arm is made with vibranium, how?” Ned asked as soon as he saw Peter join them.

“While he was recovering in Wakanda he asked if it was alright to have some to build himself a new arm, he was a bit scared to ask since he already asked for some a few years back to make Pops’ new arm.”

“That’s so cool, so both of your dad’s have arms made of the strongest metal on earth, that’s so cool!” Ned exclaimed.

“Pfft, he’s totally lying,” sneered Flash, who had walked up behind them during their conversation, “Penis here doesn’t even have a family and sure there is no way he has the Aveng-“ Suddenly, Flash’s mouth is forced shut with a glow a red around them.

“Ванда, я знаю, что ты здесь, перестань прятаться! (“Wanda, I know you're here, stop hiding!”)” Peter said to what seemed like just a dark corner.

All of a sudden you could see two glowing red eyes, slowly, Wanda made her way out of the shadows and towards her nephew, still holding Flash’s mouth shut with her magic. “Мне нужен был этот маленький мудак, чтобы заткнуться, иначе я был бы так близок к нападению на него. (“I needed this little asshole to shut up, otherwise I would be so close to attacking him.”)” She said, clearly pissed off.

“Я знаю, что он раздражает, но вы не можете причинить ему боль, он несовершеннолетний. (“I know that he is annoying, but you cannot hurt him, he is a minor.”)” Peter replied.

“I hate that you are right about this маленький паук.” Wanda said, over exaggerating her accent now that she switched back to English.

She had her magic pull Flash up to her, “You leave my nephew alone for the rest of this trip or you’re going to have to deal with a tower filled with pissed off superheroes that are his family. Do you understand me, мудак?”

All Flash could do was violently nod as his mouth was still being forced shut.

“Good. Now scram.” Wanda angrily said as she finally released the red magic from around Flash’s mouth. As soon as he was free he bolted for the other side of the museum, as far away as he could get from the crazy magic lady.

Wanda turned back towards Peter and gave him a big hug, “У тебя золотое сердце, даже для тех, кто причинил тебе боль. Я люблю вас. надеюсь, что остальная часть поездки лучше, чем эта. (“You have a golden heart, even for those who hurt you. I love you. hope the rest of the trip is better than this.”)”

“Я тоже тебя люблю, увидимся позже тетя Ванда. (“I love you too, see you later Aunt Wanda.”)” Peter said with a big smile on his face.

Wanda patted him on the head and disappeared back into the dark corner she came from.

“Whatever that was… It was awesome!!!” Ned nearly shouted.

“Wanda insulted Flash in Russian and Peter told her to let him go” MJ said nonchalantly.

“Wait, you know Russian?” Peter said surprised.

“Почему нет? Это забавный язык, чтобы знать. как ты научился (“Why not? This is a fun language to know. how did you learn”)” MJ replied, nearly flawless, Peter was still stumbling over words here and there.

“Баки, Наташа и Ванда научили меня. это как наш секретный способ разговаривать друг с другом. это смущает папу все время. (“Bucky, Natasha and Wanda taught me. it's like our secret way to talk to each other. it confuses dad all the time.”” Peter replied, then both he and MJ started to chuckle.

“I am feeling so left out and confused right now.” Said Ned, staring at the both of them like they just grew second heads.

“Russian stuff.” They said in unison, which made them chuckle again.

From across the room, Faith got everyone’s attention, “Alright everyone, it’s time to head up to the cafeteria for lunch, let’s all head back to the elevator.” Everyone started getting in and Peter noticed Flash staying as far away as he could from him.

**••• **

_“I am inevitable.” The Mad Titan said _

_“And I am… Iron Man” Tony replied, the power of the stones burning into his arm and running throughout his body. He knew this is what Strange meant, if he didn’t do this now, the entire world would be destroyed. _

_*snap* _

_Then a white light, then Tony is floating outside of his dying body. He can see Peter and Bucky crying, he wants to reach out, hug them, tell them he loves them so much. But all he can do is watch. _

_“It’s alright милая моя, you can rest now” Bucky said with tears flowing down his cheeks. _

_Slowly the light of the Arc Reactor goes out. _

_Wait! This isn’t supposed to happen, he didn’t die, or did he? He can’t remember, all he can do now is to scream hoping someone will hear him and correct this. He wants to be with his family, he wants to cuddle and have movie night, he wants to see Peter graduate, he just wants to hug them. _

_But all he can do is watch and scream. _

**••• **

The elevator doors opened up to a small corridor that led to the tower cafeteria. Pretty much any food you could think of, you could get here.

Dez got everyone’s attention, “Alright, as tour group members you all have $20 on your badge, just go grab the food you want and take it over to the kiosk and pay with your badge. You are allowed to go over the $20 but the rest has to be covered on your own. Lunch will be 45 minutes and then we will continue.”

Everyone went in different directions to grab the foods that they wanted, Peter knew and Ned, MJ, and himself would have any problems getting what the want be Dad supplied all three of their badges with $1,000 each.

MJ went over to the healthier food area while Peter and Ned made a beeline for the places with burgers and pizza.

“Man, all the food looks so good today,” Ned said, “I could eat here everyday and not get bored.”

“That’s kind of the idea, Ned.” Peter said before going strangely silent for a second.

Ned stared at him with a confused look and Peter just points to the vents just above them. No one else could hear it, but Peter could, and he immediately knew what was coming, or more specific who was coming.

Peter heard the soft creak of opening one of the vent panels, and just like a scene out of a cartoon, Peter stepped to side just in time to avoid being tackled by Clint. All you could hear was just a sudden, “Aw, no, not again.”

Clint just turns his fall into a front flip and then jumped right up. “I need to work on being quieter, you still avoided my tackle hug.”

“Uncle Clint, I wouldn’t quite call it a hug, it’s more falling on top of me and pushing me to the ground…”

“That’s what a tackle hug is!!” Clint said with a big goofy smile of his face.

“Didn’t dad tell you that you aren’t allowed to crawl through the vents anymore?” Peter said with a loving glare.

“I will never give up my hiding spot!” Clint said as he leaped back into the vent panel he came from.

“It’s not really a hiding spot if everyone knows where it is…” Peter calls after him.

Clint is already back down the vent enough that only Peter can hear him, “Don’t tell your dad, and maybe you’ll stay my favourite nephew.”

“I’m your only nephew!” Peter called back, everyone confused as to why he was yelling at the vents.

The last thing Peter heard coming from the vents was just some wild giggling. He was going to have to kick Clint’s ass in Mario Kart for this.

“You have such a bizarre family dude.” Ned said, still trying to comprehend what just happened.

“Yeah… I know.” Peter sighed, but with a smile on his face. No matter how embarrassing his family got, he knew it was because they loved him, even if that means trying to give a “tackle hug” from the vents in the middle of the cafeteria.

**••• **

After having lunch and whatever the hell that was with Clint in the cafeteria, the tour group got some exciting news. “Everyone, we have been told we have been granted permission to go to Dr. Banner’s lab and see what he is working on.” Dez said with a big smile on their face.

“Now remember according to the NDA you signed as part of the permission slip, since we are going into a lab where new things are being worked on, everyone needs to turn their cell phones off and leave them in a basket by the door to the lab.” Faith added.

Peter was a bit nervous by this, not about going to Dr. Banner’s lab, he goes there all the time to hang out and help out, no the part he is worried about is his phone needing to be off and away from him. That’s the first way FRIDAY tries to get ahold of him if there is a Code Mauve situation, that way it doesn’t alarm those who may not know what it means.

Please let everything be okay he pleads.

**••• **

In Tony’s mind, nothing was okay.

He shoots up out of his tortured sleep with a panicked expression and a scream that is cut off by how much he is sobbing and the fact that for some reason he can’t breathe.

He also doesn’t know where he is, it’s dark and it doesn’t smell like home, maybe I am dead, he thinks and that just makes things worse.

In his frantic state, he rolls to the side and falls off the couch and onto the concrete floor, hitting his metal arm against the ground. The arm isn’t damaged in anyway but because of the artificial nerves he put in there he can feel that it hurts and it hurts bad, almost like his arm is on fire.

_The stones. The stones are burning into his arm and the pain is unbearable. Why does he still have the stones on, Thanos was dead, Steve returned the stones, so WHY is this happening? _

Tony screams with all the air he can get into his quickly moving lungs. And in the dark of the workshop he sits there, holding onto his burning arm and sobbing and hyperventilating, _he just wants to see his family again. _

**••• **

Bruce is currently in the middle of showing everyone his new project, it’s a way to put radiation into a pill that only gets distributed to the parts of the body it is needed in, trying to reduce the damage from radiation therapy.

Everyone is completely amazed by this and watching with such intent, that everyone nearly jumps a foot in the air when FRIDAY suddenly speaks out.

“Peter, I have been unable to contact your phone for the past five minutes which meant I had to default to using the speaker system. Code Mauve is currently in place in the workshop, I suggest you hurry.”

“Shit,” Peter says, “Why is dad in the workshop?”

“It appears he was trying to tinker with a new project before falling asleep on the couch.”

“I’m heading up right now.” Peter said, rushing towards the door.

“Woah, wait Peter,” Mr. Harrington called, “I can’t have you leaving the tour group without adult supervision just because the ceiling told you to.”

Before Peter could retort, FRIDAY interjected, “Mr. Harrington, while I appreciate your want in keeping the rules of the trip enforced, Code Mauve is a serious incident that needs to be answered by Peter or Bucky, and seeing that Sgt. Barnes-Stark is currently in rural Virginia, I suggest you let Peter go this instant.”

“I- uh- okay, you are free to go Peter.” Mr. Harrington stumbles, not sure how to respond to information like that.

As soon as Peter heard the word “free” he sprinted out the doors and to the staircase, there was no way he was going to wait for the elevator to get him upstairs, even if they are the fastest elevators physically possible, he wanted to waste no time.

**••• **

_Burning, why is my arm burning _

_I can't breathe, why can’t I breathe _

_Peter… _

_Bucky… _

_Anyone… _

_Please tell me I’m not dead… _

**••• **

Peter makes it up to the workshop in record time, if it wasn’t so urgent he would have been proud of how fast he just ran.

He is greeted by a darkened workshop, and all he could hear was his dad sobbing while gasping for air. “FRIDAY, lights please, but not too bright.”

The lights slowly come up to a low dim, and Peter can see his dad next to the couch, sitting on the floor, gripping where his metal arm and flesh shoulder meet, rocking back and forth and muttering.

“Peter, Bucky, please tell me I’m not dead…”

This was definitely a Code Mauve, and Peter wished he had Pops here too because this was going to be a rough one.

Peter ran over to the couch and sat on the ground in front of his dad, “Dad? Can you hear me? It’s Peter, you’re not dead, you are currently sitting in your workshop in Stark Tower, we are in New York City, the compound is hundreds of miles away. It’s 2023 and both myself and Pops are alive. Thanos is dead and you are not, so just come back to me. Please.”

Peter keeps repeating the same phrases over and over again, hoping Tony will finally hear him, so he can hug him without startling him and making it worse.

_Burning, Can’t Breathe, I’m Dead _

“-ark tower”

_Burning, Can’t Breathe, I’m Dead _

“Thanos… Dead”

_Burning, Can’t Breathe, I’m Dead _

“Self and Pops… Alive”

_Burning, Can’t Breathe, I’m Dead _

“You are alive”

_I’m… Alive? _

Tony’s eyes shot open, and through the blur of tears flowing out of his eyes, he can see the outline of Peter, his son, sitting there, alive, a concerned look on his face. Blinking away a new set of tears, he tries to speak, “Pet-“ But then he remembers, He. Can’t. Breathe.

Peter picks up on this immediately. He grabs his dad’s flesh hand and places in onto his chest. “Dad, just breathe with me, you can breathe, you are alive.”

At first Tony’s breaths are giant gasps that give him no relief whatsoever, but as he follows the rise and fall of Peter’s chest, slowly but surely, he begins to breathe again.

He tries to speak again, “Peter?”

“Yes dad, it’s me, I’m here and I’m alive, and you are here and you’re alive, and Pops is on a mission but he is fine and he is alive. We are all alive.”

“Peter…” Tony says again.

“I’m here dad.”

All of a sudden Tony lunges into Peter’s arms, sobbing resuming with more power than before.

“I… I thought- I… I was… I was dead… the stones… my arm is on fire.”

Peter hugs his dad close, he hates seeing him like this, so scared and unsure of what is real.

“I promise you, the stones are gone, you just bumped some of the artificial nerves out of place and that’s why your arm is hurting.”

“I saw myself die, I watched you and Bucky cry for me.”

Another alternate timeline dream, they might need to talk to Dr. Strange again. But for now all he could do was hug his dad and assure him that everyone, including himself, was alive.

**••• **

It takes nearly two hours to calm Tony down enough that they can move to the couch in the living room. By now the tour group has left, Ned texted him to let him know and hoped everything was going okay. Peter let him know it was a work in progress.

After Tony sits down on the couch, Peter wraps a weighted blanket on his shoulders and tells him, “I’m just going to be in the kitchen making some hot chocolate, I’m here, I’m alive, and you are alive.” All Tony could do was nod.

As Peter was in the kitchen getting the milk warm for the hot chocolate, he got a text from his pops.

**Poppin’ Pops: I got an alert from FRIDAY that there was a Code Mauve today? **

**Spider-Pete: Yeah, it was a bad one too. Alternate dimension nightmare plus a massive panic attack. Just got him onto the couch and I’m making hot chocolate now. **

**Poppin’ Pops: Good. Save me a cup because I’m about 5 minutes away in the Quinjet. **

**Spider-Pete: I thought you weren’t supposed to be home until tomorrow? **

**Poppin’ Pops: Everyone else understood when I said that it was urgent that I return home. See you in a few minutes. **

Peter set his phone back down as he finished warming the milk and adding the chocolate to it. He poured three huge steaming mugs of it, carefully adding marshmallows and whipped cream to them all. Just as soon as he finished with that, the elevator dinged and Bucky stepped out, walking swiftly to the kitchen.

“Hey kiddo, these look great, I’ll help you carry them to the couch.”

Bucky grabbed Tony’s and his own drinks and carried them carefully to the couch. He put a mug in Tony’s hands and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

That broke Tony out of his spacing out, “I thought you were gone until tomorrow.”

“I couldn’t miss family movie night with my husband and son!” Bucky said smiling.

Curling into himself a bit more, Tony said, “It was because of the Code Mauve, wasn’t it? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take you away from a mission just because my brain can’t work right.”

Bucky sat his mug down on the coffee table. “Tony, look at me.”

Tony slowly turned to face his husband who had on a soft smile.

“You are working through things, no one blames you for still trying to understand this, you’ve been through a lot but this was on a completely different level.”

“I blame myself…” Tony muttered

“No, banned concept. You are not allowed to blame yourself for things far out of your control. We’ll keep working on it, please just let me know when it’s getting bad so we can talk and the thoughts don’t build up into this.”

“Okay…” Tony finally said.

“Good. I love you милая моя. Now let’s watch a movie, it’s your week to pick, what do you want to see?”

“Can we watch something simple, my brain is still to clogged to process an intense movie.”

“Okay, how about the Phineas and Ferb movie? We’ve watched enough times that you know the plot so your brain can just absorb without thinking.”

“Okay,” Tony said with a small smile on his face.

They cuddled together, Bucky on one side of Tony and Peter on the other. Even though he thinks he’s broken, Tony has his two rocks holding him together, and maybe, just somehow, everything will work it’s way out in time. But for now he has everything he could ever want.

_ **Fin** _

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed my first story! Please let me know what you think! I'm possibly thinking about writing some other stories in this little universe, would people be interested in that?
> 
> Sending love to you all 
> 
> DA xx


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